Donkey owners - help please??

[Cortrasna]

If any of you have more than one donkey could do with a bit of help here. Horses are now all snuggly wrapped up in their nice warm rugs (weather has REALLY turned cold as well as wet here:eek:)

normally Bertie (10 year old donkey) also has his rug on by now - except for one winter that was pretty mild and dry he has always had one on. Have got our new little friend Joseph (2) and he and Bertie play constantly, play rearing, chasing etc.

Now the problem here is that when Bertie was about Josephs age he managed during the night, messing about and play rearing with the ever patient Solomon (my old horse) to get his front leg trapped down through the chest of Solly's rug - found him in the morning with 2 front feet of the ground (sollys 16.2:rolleyes:) Solly standing absolutely rock like and probably had been for hours - Bertie had a very deep cut/gouge through his armpit where he had been struggling to break free from Solly's rug.:eek: Took right through until the summer to manage to get it to heal.

In view of this I am worrying about putting both Bertie and Josephs rugs on in case something similar happens again when they are playing around:confused: I know that Bertie's was a bit of a freak accident but just feel that if I do rug them it will be an accident waiting to happen?:rolleyes:

do any of you donkey owners rug yours - if so do the younger more playful ones get in a muddle when they have their winter PJs on? I could leave them without rugs as even though they are out 24/7 there is lots of natural shelter around the fields that they do use. Just worry that all this rain might be too much for their donkey coats as just not waterproof like horses.

Sorry so long - thanks for reading:D

[diplomaticandtactful]

our three donkeys were rugs during the day and we have never had any issues, other than one of the young ones removing the other donkeys rug by pulling it over his head......and leaving him totally tied up.....he stood stoically until he was rescued.

if they had a field shelter, they would be ok without rugs but they aren't good in the rain as you know and can get very chilled easily, which could lead to pneumonia. only thing i could suggest is to make sure the straps are tight i.e. close to body so less chance of a leg getting through...

i think it was just one of those silly accidents - one of ours get their leg through a haynet in the stables and stood with leg off the ground till the morning - good thing is donkeys tend to be sensible.

[tiga]

The donkeys at the rescue I help at aren't rugged at all - there's about 30. But they have access to a barn with straw bedding 24/7 so they can get out of the cold.

Could you maybe change the chest fastenings of the rugs to just velcro so if they did get in a pickle the velcro would undo? Not sure if that would work.

Or could you put up a field shelter? Bit of an expense I know.

[diplomaticandtactful]

Tiga do you help out at SHRT?

If they have access to shelter, it's ok, but if they are living out they really don't cope with the wet.

[tiga]

D&T

Yep, am up there every Sunday and it's where I loaned my Izzy from. Have just done posters for a Christmas Fayre fundraiser we're doing in December in Uckfield. Really enjoy going up there and have learnt loads.

[diplomaticandtactful]

I have known Pauline for over 20 years, i have one of her donkeys here, and the french ones she has - Kevin, Padraig, little grey girl - i raised some of the money to help rescue them from the meat trade. I used to do her home checks in west sussex.

[tiga]

Wow, small world. Which donkey do you have? I don't know the donkeys as well as the horses. Rusty is my favourite donkey. I think Kevin is going with 5 others to Raystede soon.

[diplomaticandtactful]

I have ferguson - why are they going to raystede?

[tiga]

sorry to hijack the thread Cortrasna.

They are going because Raystede don't have any donks at the moment and we have too many really. I think the donkeys were a popular attraction at Raystede as they are open to the public all year round. We must have 30- 35 at the moment.

[Cortrasna]

sorry to hijack the thread Cortrasna.

They are going because Raystede don't have any donks at the moment and we have too many really. I think the donkeys were a popular attraction at Raystede as they are open to the public all year round. We must have 30- 35 at the moment.

;)No probs!!! anything that furthers the welfare of the donks is OK by me = chat away:D

[Mimi + Me]

Gosh that sounds really traumatic. Poor Bertie, poor Solomon and poor you :(:(. Glad you all recovered (eventually) but I can see your reluctance to do anything which might make it happen again. It sounds like a freak accident and the chances of it happening just once must be huge, let alone twice.

Sorry I don't know anything about donkeys apart from remembering my farrier telling me once that they don't like getting wet ... :o

[Skippys Mum]

D&T's donkeys are possibly the most beautiful donkeys in the world (no bias there then:D).

sorry, I realise that has contributed nothing to the thread but I just had to say it:D

[diplomaticandtactful]

sorry back on the thread, thanks Tiga for letting me know - Kevin was purchased by my Australian friend and gifted on my behalf to Pauline - so we like to keep in touch on how he is getting on. it will be nice for them to go to a smaller place where they can get a bit more hands on!

in terms of donkeys rugs etc, our lot manage to survive wearing rugs even when saucy little Vodka attempts to rape Ferguson (she has got the birds and bees all wrong) but she does mount him and so far no issues....

our lots are getting very spoilt, they have a new field shelter, so they stagger out of the barn in the morning after breakfast, walk 100 yards to the field, go into the shelter, and you have three donkey heads staring out, as the rain comes down, they look a bit like a cuckoo clock!!!

they love this new shelter, it is on an island of hardcore, so they don't have to go over any mud at all - what they really want is for me to put a haynet in it as well but i am drawing the line at that!

[diplomaticandtactful]

Skippys mum you really need to come back and see them again, as the big brown person is still growing, i bought her a 5ft rug earlier in the year and i reckon she now needs a 5'3 as her elegant french derriere is hanging out of it....

[Cortrasna]

Thanks for your replys - took it all on board and mulled over - not possible to provide a field shelter unfortunately as I know this would be the best option:confused:

However, went down to see to them all this morning (pouring rain, wind etc. etc.) No sign of donkeys:eek: Horses all waiting for brekky and not a pair of big ears in sight.

Hastily chucked some hay at the nags and started a panic stricken half jog around the fields - not good at my age and condition:o 2 fields down there is a very long and deep gulley about 10 feet wide that runs for about 100 yards along our boundary, filled with trees and bushes.

Yep!;) There they were - down in the gulley - under the bushes, bone dry and snuggly tucked together without a drop of rain on them:D Aren't donkeys smart little things? But as soon as they spotted me up they came, Bertie eeawing and they jogged along behind me to come for their hay!:D

Isnt that odd after I worried about it yesterday? So shall leave rugging for now and see how they go with their chosen bedroom before I rethink the rug thing again:D

[tiga]

Good to hear that you have such clever donkeys!

Isn't it the most awful feeling when you can't see a horse/donkey? I have been running around a field desperately searching, fearing the worst, and then they come trotting out happily. Sometimes it's like they hear you calling and calling and are purposely hiding, waiting until you get nicely worked up, and then they pop out to say hello.